A picture taken on July 9, 2017, shows a general view of the destruction in Mosul’s Old City.<br />AFP PHOTO / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE

World’s best and worst cities for quality of life revealed Austria’s capital Vienna once again defended its position as the city offering the best quality of life in the world, while Iraq’s capital Baghdad remains the worst in an annual survey from consulting firm Mercer.

Its criteria include political stability, health care, education, crime, recreation and transport. Europe has eight of the world’s top 10 most pleasant cities: Germany and Switzerland each have three cities in the top 10, while New Zealand, Canada and Australia each have one. However, London is down from 40th to 41st.

With a population of 1.8 million, Vienna topped the survey for the ninth year in a row, boasting a vibrant cultural scene, comprehensive healthcare and moderate housing costs.

Vienna is followed by Switzerland’s Zurich and then New Zealand’s Auckland and Germany’s Munich in joint third. Vancouver, ranked fifth, offers the best quality of living in North America.

Two Nigerian cities were also featured and named among the world’s worst cities to live in 2018.

According to this year’s ranking, Bangui, Central African Republic (230) is the lowest ranking African city for quality of living, followed by Khartoum, Sudan (227), N’Djamena, Chad (226), Brazzaville, Congo (224) and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (223). the two Nigerian cities are Abuja (213) and Lagos (212).

They also made it into the top 20 worst cities to live in Africa. Abuja was ranked 213 out of 231 countries, making it the 13th worst city to live in Africa, while Lagos was ranked 212, making it the 14th worst African city to live in.